Scientologists, Ali Pruitt, right, and her son, Turner, 11, view material at the new Church of Scientology of Denver building in the "public information center" via a multi-media display at 23rd and Blake Street on June 19, 2012.

A full replica, display-only, office of Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard, greets visitors and staffers at the new Church of Scientology of Denver building at 23rd and Blake Street on June 19, 2012.

The new Church of Scientology of Denver building at 23rd and Blake Street on June 19, 2012.

Applied Scholastics International says it tutored children through government-backed programs in a dozen states last school year, up from four in 2006.

In response to questions from The Post about the group’s connections with Scientology, the state Education Department also will begin monitoring the program to make sure it is following protocol, said Nazanin Mohajeri-Nelson, a department program evaluator.

“The program as it’s described in the application does not appear to be religiously driven, but what’s actually being implemented is the part we need to investigate,” Mohajeri-Nelson said.

Districts use federal Title I money to cover the costs. Religious groups are eligible to participate in Colorado, but all instruction must be “secular, neutral and non-ideological.”

Applied Scholastics’ 2006 application to the state includes testimonials from public- and private-school officials, proposed reading passages and a cover letter identifying the group’s advisory board — including movie star and prominent Scientologist Tom Cruise.

The state approved the group’s application to provide math and reading tutoring in 2006, then reapproved the group in 2010.

Mohajeri-Nelson said a committee reviewed the application and concluded that the material met standards and appeared secular.

Theory criticized

In its most recent application, Applied Scholastics proposed working with students in kindergarten through eighth grade individually and in small groups, charging $45 an hour per student — about average for providers, records show.

Student activities include standard approaches — such as flash cards and using dictionaries — and more unusual tactics such as modeling in clay to better visualize subjects.

The group reported working with 248 public schools — a significant increase over the previous year’s 74.

Calls to the organization were not returned.

Banks, of the Denver-area Applied Scholastics center, declined an interview request but agreed to answer questions by e-mail.

She said Applied Scholastics has tutored 118 students since 2006 — local districts reported 116 — and is “delivering the program exactly as it was approved by the state of Colorado.”

Banks pointed to Applied Scholastics literature calling Hubbard’s approach, developed in the 1960s, “a wholly secular technology for use by any person in any field.”

The Church of Scientology and its members “have been extremely assistive” to Applied Scholastics, the group says. Banks, a Scientologist, said three of the group’s 13 tutors in Colorado are church members.

“They are setting the stage for kids to be good little compliant Scientologists,” Touretzky said. “The whole point is to get to where they can say, ‘Look, the state of Colorado is paying us to use Scientology tech.’ It’s all about legitimizing Hubbard and the church.”

Banks said such critics “do not understand the first thing about study technology.”

State OKs providers

Compared with other tutoring groups in Colorado, Applied Scholastics is a minor player. More than 8,100 students received tutoring in 2009-10 — and only 25 used Applied Scholastics, records show.

Aurora Public Schools — which has paid Applied Scholastics $81,434 to tutor 61 students since 2008 — was unaware of the group’s ties to Scientology, district spokeswoman Paula Hans said.

On-site coordinators monitor all tutoring, she said.

Hans, like officials at the other districts with an Applied Scholastics presence, emphasized that the state, not districts, approves providers.

None of the districts reported any concerns from parents about the program.

Under federal guidelines, states also must measure the effectiveness of tutoring programs and cut off groups found to be failing for two straight years.

For a period, Applied Scholastics did not tutor enough children to make an assessment possible, said Mohajeri-Nelson, the program evaluator.

But the numbers were large enough to conduct a review in 2010-11. It found Applied Scholastics students did not improve in reading or math as much as a comparison group of students.

On July 17, the state notified Applied Scholastics it would be removed from the program if next year’s review finds similar results.

The state’s additional monitoring of Applied Scholastics will involve interviewing the group, tutors and district officials, Mohajeri-Nelson said.

The organization will need to reapply in December if it wishes to continue to provide tutoring in the program.

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